Saturday, June 9, 2012

Home again, home again, jiggity jog.

Start of Day 3, West Highland Way

I got back from Europe last night: arrived in Salt Lake around 7pm. My bag missed the connection in Chicago at O'Hare, even though my layover was 2 hours. Which meant that when I got home, I got a shower and some scrambled eggs and toast for dinner then had to head back to the airport. Gerald rode with me, and after witnessing my driving skills (or lack thereof) on the way to the airport (hey, I dropped my glasses on the on ramp so yeah, I swerved a little bit!) he said he would drive me back home. So when I got to the airport, I waited for my bag to come off the belt from the next flight from Chicago and it wasn't there! I just about cried, because I although I could live without my bag for one night, I really just wanted to go to bed. Then I went back to the baggage claim desk, and the woman escorted me to the back room and thankfully my bag had already been picked up by an attendant. Whew! So back home, and to bed I went.

Bouchaille Etive Mor, near Glencoe

The dogs successfully mauled and scratched me when I first walked in the door and I did my best to ignore their bad behavior because I knew they were just really excited to see their mom again after almost three weeks apart. They have settled down now, and are lounging comfortably in close proximity at all times. I did head to the grocery store today, and thankfully had put all of the food away, because they decided to take a couple of things outside and rip them up (nothing bad, just a wrapped coffee cup and a small paper bag) that had been left on the table in the living room. I feel as though I successfully outsmarted them on that front.

I'll be writing lots of posts over the next few days and plan to write a post for each day that I was on the West Highland Way in Scotland, and also a few posts from my week in Germany. After the Germany visit, I went to Edinburgh, Scotland for a day so that of course deserves its own post as well.

Near Staffel Alm and Rabenkopf (Raven's Head Peak)Bavaria, Germany

In all, I had an awesome trip and although reluctant to go back to work on Monday, I feel somewhat rejuvenated and in a better mood to dedicate time to work and patients. Suffice it to say that in order to have a most excellent Europe trip, one does have to sacrifice several days as "travel only" and put up with the not so nice aspect of being on a plane for 8 continuous hours across the ocean. Add to that countless airport and train station layovers (I will go ahead and tell you now, I was in Amsterdam Schiphol airport four, count them four times in the course of two weeks and have just about had my fill of that place). The German trains were probably the best aspect of my travels as they were clean, efficient, with nice seat-mates and I never missed a connection. The worst part was probably the City Link bus from Glasgow to Edinburgh in back, but really only because I tend to get car sick in such an environment. I would also rather forget the drunk Bulgarians on the return flight from Amsterdam to O'Hare.

The Royal Mile, High Street, Edinburgh, Scotland

Stay tuned for more details from my trip. It was a good one and I'm so glad I experienced the things that I did. I'm glad to be home and happy that I can now reflect on all the things that stick in my memory to make the trip what it was. I look forward to sharing those things over the next few posts.

Loved the pictures you did post. Can't wait to see more and hear about your trip. And about your time in Amsterdam's Schipol airport...look at the bright side, at least it wasn't Paris' Charles de Gaulle. I despise that place. :)